Phew. It’s been a pretty packed week… and that’s coming from a pair of fools who repeatedly over-fill travels to the point of exhaustion, agree not to do it again, then do it again.
We landed in Cairns and swiftly jumped in a cab to take us to our pick-up point for our wheels and home for the next 3 weeks. We’ve rented a Motorhome (not campervan, apparently). We figured this would give us the most flexibility in our journey down the coast from Cairns to Sydney.
On advice from various people, we hightailed it out of Cairns, and drove the hour or so North to Port Douglas, stopping at a supermarket en route to pick up supplies to actually cook for ourselves for the first time in a couple of months. Food shopping here is not cheap. Especially classically Aussie foods like prawns (about £7 a pack of cooked prawns!).
The drive up was very scenic, often hugging the coast; trees revealing picture perfect, empty, sandy beaches… you don’t swim here. We stopped a few times to collect shots of amusing road signs:
Arriving at our campsite for the night, we got ‘hooked up’ and took a walk around the lovely little town of Port Douglas, past the stinger and crocodile-infested 4 Mile beach, up around the lookout and down to the pretty marina. A highly recommended place for a visit, it’s an upmarket holiday destination and the best place from which to visit the Great Barrier Reef (World Heritage site #127).
The next day, we headed down to the marina, and boarded SilverSonic, our boat for diving the GBR. We met an interesting chap on the boat. He was diving for the first time in 14 years, after retiring as a Navy Seal Dive Medic. He had thousands of dives to his name, but hardly recognised any of the equipment – more used to rebreathers and decompression chambers. He was full of stories, and dropped in that he now runs a tax law practice, and owns a plane. A nice one.
The dives were very good. The reef was in good condition with beautiful hard and soft corals and plenty of smaller sea life. No sign of bleaching, which was a relief. We dived three spots in the Agincourt reef, seeing cuttlefish, turtles and a feckin massive clam.
We’d been warned about ‘stingers’ in these parts. We luckily didn’t experience any deadly Box jellyfish, or Irukandji, but frequently felt the minor stings of other jellyfish or sea lice across exposed areas. Stinger suits or wetsuits are a must up here.
The following day, we took a drive up to Cape Tribulation, named by Cook as this is where his troubles started. As we worked our way back down the coast, we took a number of walks through the Daintree Rainforest (World Heritage Site #128). Known as where the rainforest meets the reef, this was a weird environment; humid jungle turning to mangrove and beach in the space of a few metres. We spotted our first wild Cassowary here.
One of the most notable environmental differences in Australia (aside from the heat!) are the sounds. Birds yell with whoops and chirps, with a tunefulness not common in other parts of the world. Parrots, and Cockatoos are wild here; there is colour in every tree. The ubiquitous Australian Magpie in particular is a chatty fellow in the towns and cities, and sounds like he was sampled for Star Wars weapon sounds: “peeeooow, peeeooow”. But in the rainforest, aside from the worrying cracks and rustles in undergrowth either side of you, the enduring sound is that of cicadas flooding the air with wave after wave of their song.
The next day, I got up early for a run down 4 Mile Beach. I didn’t get up early enough. It was very hot, very humid and the hardest 5k I’ve ever run. After an hour or so to compose myself, shower and have breakfast, we left Port Douglas and started the 4 hour drive down to Mission Beach, south of Cairns. We started back down the road towards Cairns, stopping at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventure park. Here we were introduced to the Saltwater Crocodile, watching as the prehistoric predator leapt from the water, jaws-snapping with a violent ricochet, and teeth lunging at meat thrown by rangers. Fantastic. We also got up close to many other of Australia’s Fauna in the walks around the park. We spent three hours here and had an absolute ball.
Turning inland, avoiding Cairns, we headed up into the hills to the Atherton Tablelands. The environment changed from dense rainforest to rolling hills, interspersed with farms and coffee plantations. This route was beautiful to drive. We stopped at a viewing spot to try and see the elusive Duck-Billed Platypus (another unlikely creature). We sat for ages under a bridge like a couple of trolls, spying their bubbles but failing to spot one coming up for air. It was only later that evening when I checked the photos that I clocked this:
Passing through fields of mangos, bananas and sugar cane, we eventually arrived at Mission Beach in the early evening, pretty tired after a day in the heat and behind the wheel. But, it was 31/12/2019, the end of the decade, so we put on our glad rags (the same rags we’d been in all day), and headed into the lights and glamour of Mission Beach town, where we had a pizza, I had 2 beers and we were asleep by 21:30. Mission accomplished.
01.01.2020. This morning, before the rest of the world woke up to the new decade, we took a lovely stroll down the beach, before packing up and driving 4/5 hours down to Ayr. We stayed at a small but pleasant campsite, enjoyed a swim and cooked up a nice barbecue. A quieter day before an early start the next morning for diving.
We drove the short distance to Alva and joined a small group to dive the SS Yongala, a pleasure cruiser sunk in 1913 off the coast in a category 5 cyclone. All souls were lost, and the wreck remained undiscovered until the 1950’s, when the sunken ship was snagged in a mine-sweeping operation.
The position of the wreck, equidistant between the nutrient-rich shore and the Great Barrier Reef has made it an underwater oasis for pelagic and reef life. The dive boat was split into two groups, however Shona and I were asked if we wanted to dive without a guide, given our experience and the easily navigable wreck. We hungrily agreed and were the first off the boat.
What. A. Dive. It was like being in a David Attenborough documentary. We’ve never seen such density of marine life in one place. Millions of fish, predated on by shoals of Barracuda, Tuna and Giant (I mean GIANT) Groupers. Cleaning stations teaming with wrasses await the huge rays who glide by. Deadly but ‘not dangerous’ sea snakes are abundant. Turtles join the crowds, and while we didn’t see many, nurse, reef and tiger sharks are known to frequent this spot. Julie, who we met in the Philippines recommended it as a must-do site while we were here and we can’t thank her enough for the recommendation! We dived the site twice, the second time with a good strong current. We would both go back in a flash.
We had a quick lunch back on shore, then hopped in the Motorhome for the 4 hour drive down the coast to Airlie Beach. We camped up just outside of the backpacker saturated town. We had planned the next day to tour around the Whitsunday Islands, however a snaffu with the booking means this is now happening on Saturday, which gives us Friday (today) to recompose ourselves, do some washing, buy supplies, Shona to plan the next bit of the trip (she’s on Australia planning duties!), and write up this blog before the frenetic touring starts again tomorrow…
Travels with Sklaroffs 